This invention relates to windbreaks for cabriolets.
In a cabriolet having an open top, the airstream is directed over the vehicle by the windshield, producing turbulence from behind in the passenger compartment. This leads to an annoying tousling of hair and an unpleasant draft at the back of the neck. Besides, the heat in the passenger compartment is diminished since the resulting motion of the air stirs up and removes the normal cushion of warmth in the passenger compartment. Furthermore, there is a high noise level, especially at higher speeds, preventing or at least interfering with conversation as well as with the audibility of music and also traffic messages.
To mitigate these problems, so-called windbreaks have been provided in the form of framed nettings or roller blinds which are mounted behind the front seats in the region of the passengers' heads.
In the case of smaller, two-seater cabriolets, the rear-body portion or trunk of the vehicle directly adjoins the front seats. In that case, it is sufficient for the suppression of a draft simply to provide a vertical windbreak. For this purpose, German Patent No. 196 17 702 discloses a roll-up windbreak in a cabriolet having a rollover bar which is arranged more or less at the level of the hood located behind the front seats along with an adjacent cover box which is open toward the front. The roll-up windbreak can be extended from below upwardly into a service position and then attached to the transverse member of the rollover bar. For larger cabriolets, especially those with rear seats, such a fixed roll-up system behind the front seat would constitute an undesirable barrier to entry into the rear seats.
European Patent Publication No. 0 340 796 discloses a four-seater cabriolet having a similar roll-up windbreak system located at the floor of the vehicle. Such a roll-up arrangement extending from the floor of the vehicle will also stop an airstream originating at the rear seats from moving toward the front seats. However, since most cabriolets have a domed center tunnel such a roll-up arrangement is available in only the few cabriolet designs which have a flat floor.
In the case of larger cabriolets, in particular four-seaters, to stop an airstream entering the interior of the vehicle from behind downwardly over the back seats, U.S. Pat. No. 5,219,201 discloses a windbreak made in two parts, a vertical part being arranged behind the front seats more or less at head level, and a horizontal part covering the adjacent rear section, at about sill height, in particular over the rear seats.
European Published Application No. 0 779 172, for example, discloses a bipartite windbreak made so that the two parts can be folded together and stowed behind a rear seat backrest. In another known arrangement disclosed in German Gebrauchsmuster No. 93 03 717, a vertical part consisting of a netting stretched in a frame is inserted in holders at the sides of the vehicle. On the underside of the frame, another, flexible netting is attached by one end so that it may be spread over the rear seat area and attached at its posterior edge to the rear seat backrest by hook-and-loop tapes when necessary.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,211,718 describes another embodiment of a windbreak which includes a U-shaped roll-over bar having legs mounted on opposed sides of the vehicle in the region behind the front seats, the cross-bar of the U-shaped roll-over bar passing above the occupants' head level in the transverse direction of the vehicle. In addition, this arrangement includes a roller unit having a wind-up roller extending in the transverse direction of the vehicle near the cross-bar of the U-shaped roll-over bar. The roller is wound with a windbreak which is capable of being rolled up and unrolled, the wind-up roller being spring-loaded in the roll-up direction. When the windbreak is unrolled from the roller into a service position, it covers the area enclosed by the U. In this arrangement, the roller is in the form of a cassette located at the sill level, and the windbreak can be quickly extended from the bottom to the top of the area and hooked to the cross-bar to retain it in the service position. Adjacent to the cassette and connected to it, an additional windbreak part having a frame with netting extends horizontally to the rear. This second posterior windbreak part protects the rear seat area when it is unoccupied.
Four-seater cabriolets, or those having a storage space of some size behind the front seats, are normally two-door vehicles. All of these windbreak embodiments are attached to the vehicle body and, in combination with a horizontal covering of a rear portion of the vehicle, extend over the entire width of the vehicle. Hence, the windbreak disadvantageously creates a barrier at the sill level, barring access to the rear seats, so that the rear seats cannot be used in combination with the windbreak. Hence, nearly all conventional windbreak arrangements are removable, and have a correspondingly expensive construction. There is also the additional problem of stowing a removed windbreak in view of the space limitations of cabriolet.